The following editorial is written by Neil Raymond and is part of a new multi-part series titled McMahon’s Missteps. It does not reflect the opinions of WrestleZone as a whole. We encourage you all to discuss Neil’s thoughts in the comments section at the bottom of this post or by tweeting him @NeilfromNYC
Vince McMahon is the greatest wrestling promoter of all time. He took his father’s regional promotion and turned it global and into the most successful wrestling company of all time. Unfortunately, no one is immune from making mistakes and I feel that Vince’s mistakes have gotten worse over the years. Vince’s biggest mistake in my opinion is that he’s out of touch with the fans. He doesn’t seem to grasp, or care, that wrestling fans now look beyond the characters and boo his booking. A conundrum that has caused him serious issues over the last few years.
In 2011, CM Punk was refusing to re-sign with the company because he wasn’t a main eventer. He was allowed do a promo where he somewhat broke character and that promo made the heel Punk into one of the most popular babyfaces in the company. Why? Because the fans believed that Phil Brooks deserved to be a main eventer. They didn’t care that CM Punk the character was a heel who claimed to be better than them by being Straight Edge. They cared about his wrestling skills and his microphone work. They cared about his performances. Vince should’ve learned at that point that the business was changing, instead he did not.
Fast forward to three years later and Vince showed the world that he didn’t learn from the “Summer of Punk” at all. It was January 2014, and Daniel Bryan was the most popular babyface in the company. He was loved for being great in the ring and entertaining as a character. The fans felt that he deserved to win the WWE Title again, especially when the storyline was that The Authority basically stole his title and humiliated him for months. The logical route was for him to win the Royal Rumble match and take the title away from The Authority at WrestleMania XXX. Vince, however, made the call to have Batista be the hero instead. During the 2014 Royal Rumble match the fans booed everyone, especially Batista, after it became obvious that Bryan wasn’t even in the match.
Roman Reigns, however, was cheered. An in-tune and in-touch fan knew why that happened. The fans didn’t cheer Reigns because they liked him, they cheered him because he and Batista were the last two wrestlers in the match and they really didn’t want Batista to win out of spite. The fans saw Reigns as “that other guy” in The Shield, nowhere near the level of Dean Ambrose or Seth Rollins. These same fans booed Rey Mysterio of all people, one of the most beloved babyfaces of all time! It was clear as day that it had nothing to do with Reigns and everything to do with them not wanting Batista to take what they believed to be Bryan’s spot. It was clear to everyone, except of course Vince McMahon. At first, Vince seemed to finally get it, Batista was turned heel and Bryan won the title and got his moment at WrestleMania. Unfortunately it was very short-lived.
Next Page: “McMahon’s Missteps Part 1: Refusal To Accept That He’s Out Of Touch” by Neil Raymond (cont.)
